This morning Facebook held a “mobile event” to launch some new updates to their mobile platform. First and foremost Mark Zuckerberg has admitted that the Android Facebook app has been lagging behind the iPhone, and said “…[N]ow we’re back to parity, we think.” This morning version 1.4.0 of Facebook for Android was released in the Android Market, adding features that were only available to iPhone and touch.facebook.com users. These features include Places and Groups. Zukerberg has also squashed any rumors of a “Facebook Phone” by saying “There’s been a rumor floating around that Facebook was going to build a phone, No.”
Check out the Android market to update or install the latest Facebook for Android.
Okay, so not the most interesting update in the world, but last night I was able to install the lower engine mount, axles, brakes/suspension, and put the wheels back on. So now, after a couple months, all four wheels are touching the floor again. I realize there are a few things that will require me to lift the car up again, but I call this progress.
Sunday I spent some more time in the garage with my friends to make progress on the SRT.
After a few attempts, we were able to install the timing belt and line up all the timing marks correctly. We spun the crank a few full rotations to ensure that nothing was off, each time all the marks lined up exactly as expected. Once we were happy with the timing, we buttoned up all the belt covers and brackets.
Next came the AGP log style exhaust manifold. I purchased new studs for the manifold, and we used new grade 10.9 bolts instead of reusing the old factory manifold bolts. It was easiest to quickly remove the alternator to get to the bottom right bolt and torque it to the factory 250 inch-lbs spec. If the motor was in the car, I wouldn’t have taken the time to do that.
At this point the engine was ready to come off the stand to install the clutch and then the transmission.
ACT Xtreme 6-puck was installed using the non-modular bolts from the 95 neon.
I used the ACT supplied high-temp grease to lube the input shaft collar, splines, and other points in the bell housing. We later decided not to lube the splines so that was wiped off.
And then the fun began…
I got in a little bit over my head and used a bolt that was too long in an attempt to bolt the transmission to the block. Since the bolt bottomed out, it pulled all the threads out of the hole in the transmission case. That ended Sunday’s wrenching session.
After some research, I purchased a Helicoil kit and dril bit to repair the threads. Tuesday night I decided to skip the Las Vegas SRT Club weekly meet to continue work on the car. The thread repair was actually very easy and pretty much went without any problems. The way a helicoil works is by drilling and tapping a larger hole in the place to be repaired, then special inserts that look like springs are threaded into the hole to replace the threads for the original bolt. If you’re really interested in the process, this video from YouTube gives a quick overview.
My repair. The supplied tap had to be modified slightly to fit the tap handle we were using. Besides, sparks are cool.
After the threads were repaired, the transmission bolted right up. With the engine supported on the hoist it was pretty easy to line up all the holes and snug it down.
After that, we found sturdy places on the engine and transmission to attach the hoist chains and dropped the drivetrain back into the engine bay.
My desktop computer has been down for a little while, so I haven’t been able to upload any updated pics from the SRT build. There has been a little more progress though.
DCR Oil pump, cam gears, water pump, tensioner, and idler pulley reinstalled.
Factory oil pickup modified for more flow
Installed
Eddie and I made our own cam tool for torquing the cam gears and dampener back down. I tried using a piece of 14GA angle stock and some regular bolts, but they bent really easily. This is made from part of a jack stand and some big grade 8 bolts.
Lastly, I blocked off the coolant lines for the now deleted oil cooler since I’ll be running a big filter kit.
All that’s left is putting on the timing belt and reinstalling the plastic covers, then the motor goes back in the car.
I’ve been homebrewing since 2009 and I have always been looking for ways to improve my brewing to turn out better beers. A yeast starter is a method of preparing your yeast for fermentation by introducing your yeast to a small amount of wort before fermentation in order to encourage yeast cell multiplication to create an optimum amount of healty, ready-to-go yeast cells for an ideal fermentation of your beer. (Brew365.com). I was getting ready to brew a Pumpkin Ale, which was a big hit last year, so I figured I would pick up a yeast starter kit at the same time and give it a try. The kit I purchased was the 2L Yeast Starter Kit from Midwest Supplies. The kit includes a 2L Erlenmeyer flask, stopper, airlock, 1 lb. dry malt extract, 2 oz. yeast nutrient, and instructions. I suplimented the instructions that came with the kit with a post I found on Brew365, Making a Yeast Starter.
Brew365 suggested measuring the malt extract by weight rather than using a measuring cup, so I measured out 3 oz on my kitchen scale.
For my Pumpkin Ale, which has an OG of 1.047, I used the Mr. Malty’s Pitching Rate Calculator™ to determine that a 1L starter would be enough. So I collected about 1L of water in my flask.
Added the malt extract and a tsp of yeast nutrient to the water.
I took the mixture over to the stove and brought it to a boil, while it was boiling I sanitized all the equipment and the yeast pouch to prevent infection.
Once the 15 minute boil was finished, I covered the flask with some foil and placed it in an ice bath to lower the temperature. (the black floaties in the water are from a minor boilover I had on the stove. Oops!)
Once the starter was cooled, I just waited until the outside of the flask was cool to the touch, I pitched the yeast and put on the stopper/airlock.
Over the next day my wife and I swirled the starter every once and a while to mix up the batch and encourage the yeasties to do their work. By brewday I had a healthy batch of yeast and I saw the start of fermentation after only a few hours.
The Pumpkin Ale will be ready by Thanksgiving. I’ll post some feedback on how it went with my first starter.
Google has updated the YouTube app for Android, but if you have a custom rom like CyanogenMod installed you may find that the install is failing from the market. This can be easily fixed by renaming (or deleting) the old YouTube app before trying to install the new one. This post assumes you have rooted your device, seeing how that is necessary to load the custom ROM anyway.
Open a terminal emulator and become root. Mount the /system filesystem as read/write using mount -o rw,remount /system
Change into /system/app
Rename (or remove, if you are brave) YouTube.apk
Reboot. One the phone comes back up, you should be able to download and install from the market like normal.
Verizon wireless has put out a press release today confirming that the highly anticipated Android powered tablet from Samsung will be released on November 11th, 2010. The Samsung Tab will be available for $599.99 without a contract requirement. Wireless data access will be available similar manner to the iPad 3G, beginning at $20 a month for 1 GB. This announcement, paired with Verizon’s recent iPad announcement will give customers the ability to choose an iOS or Android powered tablet running on Verizon to best suit their needs.
BASKING RIDGE, N.J., and DALLAS, Oct. 20 /PRNewswire/ — Verizon Wireless and Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile) today announced the highly anticipated Samsung Galaxy Tab™ will be available Nov. 11 for $599.99. Running on Android™ 2.2, the Samsung Galaxy Tab features a brilliant 7-inch touch screen; robust HTML Web browsing experience with full support for Adobe® Flash® 10.1 for video and mobile gaming; and a 1GHz Cortex A8 Hummingbird Application processor.
“This is an incredible time in mobile technology, and as a company we’re excited to add the Samsung Galaxy Tab to our portfolio,” said Marni Walden, vice president and chief marketing officer for Verizon Wireless. “The Samsung Galaxy Tab brings together the reliability of Verizon Wireless’ 3G network and the power of Android 2.2 to deliver on our promise of providing consumers and business customers with a host of options to help manage their lives.”
Popular mobile applications, including V CAST Music and V CAST Song ID, VZ Navigator®, Slacker Radio, Kindle for Android, BLOCKBUSTER On Demand® presented by V CAST Video, and the exclusive golf game, “Let’s Golf,” will be available on the Samsung Galaxy Tab. In addition to text, picture and video messaging, the Samsung Galaxy Tab will also feature V CAST Apps, Verizon Wireless’ mobile storefront offering hundreds of applications for businesses and consumers at launch.
Verizon Wireless customers can add a monthly access plan beginning at $20 a month for 1 GB on their Samsung Galaxy Tab. For additional features and specifications on the Samsung Galaxy Tab, visit www.verizonwireless.com/galaxytab.
For additional information on Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to www.verizonwireless.com.
Rumors of a CDMA version of the mighty iPhone are as old as the device itself. With the most recent public letdown coming back in January, when everyone expected a Verizon iPhone to be released along side the iPad. However, the magical iPad release came and went without any indication of an iPhone that would talk on big red. Just this week, an article in the Wall Street Journal has fired up the VZW iPhone rumor mill yet again.
The article says that AT&T will lose their exclusivity on the device starting in Q1 of 2011, citing their source only as “people familiar with the matter”. The VZW iPhone would resemble the current GSM iPhone 4, but with the Qualcomm manufactured internals necessary to communicate on CDMA networks. According to “these people” the new iPhone will not be quad band, meaning it will only function on CDMA networks and not GSM.
Something left entirely out of the report is the mention of Verizon’s new LTE network which will be available in select markets at the end of this year. Why would a new, flagship phone, like the iPhone not include something as important as the ability to function on Verizons new 4G network. CDMA technology is primarily used in the United States by carriers like Verizon and Sprint, the majority of the world uses GSM technology. However, as mentioned in the WSJ article, there are countries in Asia that use CDMA wireless technology. Another conclusion that could be drawn is that this new CDMA iPhone is being prepared for release in South Korea and Japan. Also, if the new iPhone is designed to be CDMA only as described it could not be used internationally by Verizon customers roaming overseas. Verizon has a number of “world phones”, including those running BlackBerry OS and Android, that are capable of roaming on GSM networks. A CDMA only iPhone would not be able to compete in the business market with these already released phones.
Lastly, with the recent DROID campaigns run by Verizon and Google it would seem hypocritical to suddenly welcome the very handset that they are trying to compete with. It may be too little, too late as Verizon users have already shown that they are interested in Android powered devices, and the numbers back it up with the market share of Android devices steadily increasing each quarter.
Only time will tell with this latest VZW iPhone rumor, as expected all parties involved (Apple, Verizon, and Qualcomm) have declined to comment.
With some creative use of zip ties and the loaner Chrysler Harmonic Balancer Puller from AutoZone we were able to take the crank pulley off. That is the best pic I have of the pulley and the puller, we basically used the zip ties to keep the jaws of the puller tight against the pulley so it wouldn’t try and squat which would make it slip off.
Removed Cam Gears and removed all the plastic shielding also started taking apart the old tensioner
We also had to get creative with a steering wheel puller and the bolts from the coil pack to remove the sprocket from the crank
oil pump, water pump, tensioner, and idler pulley removed (that’s most everything)
I had to stop there, since the dealership was closed and I didn’t have the anaerobic sealant required for the oil pump install. I picked it up after work the other day and I’m going to start reassembly this week/weekend. Slowly getting there.
I used this oil pump how-to: HOW-TO: Remove & Install Oil Pump its extremely difficult to read, but it has all the info you need to get the job done.
I also polished the AGP logo on my turbo heat shield and played around with a fish-eye lens adapter I borrowed from a friend.
